Canada

[gchpaco]

Due to montrealais in metaquotes's latest tribute to Stephen Harper:

[Governors General are] constitutional fire extinguishers with a potent mixture of powers for use in great emergencies....Like real extinguishers, they appear in bright colours and are strategically located.
- Frank McKinnon

For those of you not versed in this, which is to say everyone I imagine, as I'm the only person with any particular reason to pay attention to Canadian politics and this caught me by surprise: Stephen Harper of the Conservative party is currently Canada's Prime Minister. He proposed in the budget to cut public funding for the political parties, which would have had the effect of stripping 67% of the funding of his party's two main rivals. Said rivals have decided to oust him in consequence, much to my delight. Harper has apparently not anticipated this event and is having a very large and emotional and public and apparently totally ineffective cow over it and is talking about adjourning Parliament early this year to save his butt.

Inasmuch as my current Canadian political opinions are largely "Ruin to the Conservatives!" this has me giddy with delight. So entertained. This is possibly the stupidest thing we have seen since Joe Clark couldn't count back in 1982.

Comments

[sidelong.livejournal.com]

It's always a little sad to realize you're more socially aware than some major world leaders.

...However, it's also often quite amusing.

[gchpaco.livejournal.com]

The Conservative party of Canada at least seems to breed this sort of thing; the Republicans do, too, to some extent. The skill set required to advance within the party is completely different from the skill set required to work well and play with other people. Near as I can tell the theory is something like if you propose something and push on hard with a lot of perceived support then it will work out; sort of the blitzkreig theory of social relations.